Installation of Turbo Timer

Oy folks. I guess this is another one of my overly thorough installation guides. I really wanted to install a turbo timer on my GTI to protect the turbo. The idea behind it is that the turbo gets REALLY hot when you spend a lot of time driving hard. Installing a turbo timer lets the engine idle for a while after you've left the car and shuts it down when the turbo has cooled.

In a MK IV VW, this presents a problem. The factory alarm won't arm while the engine is running. A guy from VW Vortex (Luis) created a circuit that is wired in tandem with the Turbo Timer so that when the turbo timer shuts off the motor, the windows will roll up, the sunroof closes, the doors lock and the alarm arms. Kinda cool, eh? Here's the link to Luis' page.

I chose the Blitz FATT DCIII (Full Automatic Turbo Timer). It has a small display that fits easily on the dash instead of a larger module that is more difficult to fit somewhere. It automatically calculates how long the car should be left running based on how long and how hard you've been driving. Kind of a cool feature. It also has readouts for the tachometer, volt meter, cabin temperature. In theory it will do the dishes too, but I haven't figured out that feature yet. :)

Tools Required:

You'll need a few different sizes of phillips-head screwdrivers, a flat head screwdriver, masking tape, electrical tape, an electrical current tester, Torx T-20 driver, pliers, wire cutters and a sharp knife. As always, a Bentley manual helps.

You'll need some quick-connects wire taps or something similar. I started the project thinking that I would solder all the connections to be really thorough, but once I got going, it became evident that using very high quality wire taps was Much easier.

Installation Process:

Dash before the process starts

Prying out the blank button

You'll see me using the tool above. It is a flathead screwdriver with masking tape wrapped around the end. It is dead-useful when you're removing trim that you don't want to bugger up (pardon the language, I've been watching the BBC again).

These buttons pry right out. If you've got heated seats, then you're kind of SOL on the display placement. You can find another place to install the display though. It will work well in another place on the dash, but it won't fit into the dash quite as nicely.

Button cover out.

You can see the defroster harness through the hole left when the fake button is taken out. Also notice the ridge that goes between the two buttons. I took my sharp knife and shaved that ridge down. That allowed me to install the the display and have it set back into the dash a little. You can also see the metal clip that holds the defroster button in place. Later you'll press that in and the whole button housing will slide out.

Removing the vents

This photo is actually wrong. Its easier to remove the vents if you pry them gently from the left side of each vent. The post on the right side has a rubber cover that makes the vents stay in the position you put them in. Its easier to get that out if pry from the left side. It just takes a gentle twist and it will pop right out.

Here's what it looks like with the buttons out and the vents off. Close the air ducts before taking the screws out. You wouldn't want to lose one down there.

Torx screw to remove

Did I mention to close the air ducts? Oh good. Just checking. :) There's another screw on the other side of the vent housing.

Vent Housing Out

It takes a little wiggling and pulling, but it will come out with a minimum of force.

Unplugging the harness

There are little metal clips that hold the button housings in place. If you press on them, the defroster button will slide right out. Unplug the harness from the back. We're going to move the defroster button to the left side so there will be enough room for the Turbo Timer display. The housing and wiring harness click right into the left-most hole.

Here's the harness sliding out

Here's the harness moved to the left.

You can see that I've moved the defroster button and harness to the left hole. You can also see the wire from the display going into the dash.

Wire routing.

The display installed.

I put the display in using 3m double stick tape. It fits perfectly in the space with a little extra room. I took some 1.5mm thick neoprene and cut it to fit around the display. I pressed it into the gaps and it looked really good. The photo above is before I put the neoprene in to cover up the tape and wire.

Connecting the Parking Brake Wire:

Most Turbo Timers have a safety feature that insures that the parking brake is on. This prevents the car from rolling when you get out, but it also prevents someone from hopping in the car and driving off. They'd have to break the steering column lock, but that isn't too hard if someone has the tools. With this security measure installed, if someone takes the parking bake off, it will immediately stop the engine and arm the alarm.

Each different VW model has a slightly different center console. This one is what came with my 20th AE GTI.

Removing the center console:

Removing the small tray

The little tray behind the parking brake pries out with the tape-covered screwdriver. Pry from the back to prevent the tabs inside from braking.

This is what it looks like under that tray

Tab holding the rear cup holder in.

I'm pointing at the tab that holds the rear cup holder in. There's one on each side. If you press them out lightly with your fingers, the rear cup holder will slide right out.

This is what it looks like without the rear cup holder

Removing the cup holder rails

Use that tape-covered flathead to pry up the front of the rails that the rear cup holder slides on. There are two clips that pop right out. The part towards the back of the car has two hooks that slide into the center console. Don't pry from that side. You'll brake the hooks.

Here's the rails sliding out.

This is what the back of the center console looks like.

Remove the two torx screws here. That will allow the back half of the center console to come up. Now we just need to free up the front.

Pry off the screw covers between the seats.

These screw covers are found right below the shift console. You can remove them with a fingernail. There's no need to use any other tool. There's one on each side of the center hump. Remove the Torx screws underneath. Then pull the parking brake up very firmly.

Lift the center console out

With the parking brake up, you should be able to lift the center console right out. It might take a little wiggling to pull it past the shift console. I knew I needed to loosen the shift console to get the wiring through, so I did that before lifting out the center console. It made it much easier.

Screw to loosen the center console

To allow the shift console to move around a little, there are screws on either side of the center console in the foot wells. I just loosened these. They didn't need to come all the way out. I also took out the ash tray and removed the torx screw under it.

Here's the wires!

These are the wires we're looking for. I used my electrical probe and found that the brown wire with the yellow stripe is the one that we need. It has current when the parking brake is off. When the parking brake is on, the current shuts off.

Spliced into the brown/yellow wire

The purple wire goes to the Turbo Timer. I spliced into the brown wire with the yellow stripe and then routed the wire through the shift console so that it came out by the gas pedal.

Testing the purple wire

Whenever you use wire taps, its a good idea to test the wire to see if it tapped correctly. I'm checking the current with the electrical probe. If you look carefully at the left, you can see the bulb inside the probe lighting up.

After this I disconnected the negative battery lead to cut power to the car.

Wiring the door lock feature:

The next step is to send the wire from the circuit that Luis made to the door lock. This will allow the turbo timer to lock the doors, roll up the windows and close the sun roof.

Open the side fuse panel

There I go with the tape-covered flathead again. The whole panel with the fuse door in it pops right off when you pry it gently. There are 3 clips that come out easily to give access to that whole side of the dash.

Remove the lower panels

There are two Torx screws at the bottom of this panel that hold it in along with the clips from the fuse panel. You don't have to remove the torx screws that hold the VAG.COM port in place.

The panel over your feet clips out too

There is an insulated panel that covers the bottom of the dash. I slide that out too. Once that is out, you can remove the dead pedal. Remove the torx screw at the top. The whole dead pedal will slide up until the clips at the back release. Don't pull it forward until the clips release or you'll break them.

You'll then need to remove the hood release lever. This was impossible to photography. Sorry. Bentley has a decent description and diagram. All I can say is that if you pull the lever forward, you'll see on the back side of the lever where it attaches to the car there is a clip that pries out easily. The trim panel behind it will then pop out too. Its just held in with two clips.

Wires going into the door

This is what the wires look like that go into the door. We'll send a wire up through there in a little while.

Remove the door handle

The trim on the inside of the door handle pries out easily. Push it towards the door from the bottom with the tape-covered screwdriver. It'll come right out.

Window switch plate lifts out

The plate with the window switches in it lifts right out. Its held in place with a few clips. You don't need tools to pull it up. Disconnect the wiring harness to the window switches.

Luis' instructions for removing the door panel are pretty good. There are three screws behind this switch panel. They're easy to see. They're big phillips heads. There are three more torx screws at the bottom of the door panel and one more near the front of the door. Then there are 5 or 6 clips that pop the panel out. Start at the bottom and work your way up. when you get all but the top of the panel out, slide it straight up and it will unhook from the window molding. Its easier than it sounds. Bentley also shows it pretty well.

This is the wire you want.

When you look at the instructions for Luis' circuit, you'll easily see where to clip open the insulating tape. When I did this, the yellow wire with the blue stripe was right on top. it was easy to tap into. I followed Luis' instructions and ran the blue wire from his circuit into the door through the inside molding. It was a little weird disconnecting one side of the rubber boot that protects the wires between the door and the car, but it came out easily and went back together with a little finesse.

Wire tapped

I used a wire tap to connect this wire. I also wrapped it in electrical tape when I was done. I then put the door panel back on again.

Tapping Ignition Wires:

This is the hard part. There isn't a lot of space to work on top of the steering column. If you're careful, you won't have trouble though.

Remove these screws

Looking at the bottom of the steering column, you can see two holes where small philips head screws reside. Remove them with a long, thin screwdriver. That will release the top of the steering column molding.

Here's the molding coming up.

The lower part will swing up. The upper part (right below the gauge cluster) snaps out by pulling straight towards you.

Ignition Wires

The ignition wires are on the left side of the steering column. You can see them right next to my finger.

Insulating tape removed

I was really careful when I removed the insulating tape around these wires. It is easy to cut them. Be very careful. You'll need the solid red, solid black and the black with the red stripe. Luis' instructions and the turbo timer instructions should explain these connections well.

I didn't want to tap into these wires directly more than once, so I installed the turbo timer here, then tapped the wires for Luis' circuit into the turbo timer wires down below the dash. It made it much easier.

Notice the bolt and nut to the right of the photo above, that is the ground for the steering column. I used that to ground the turbo timer. I just loosened it and slipped the loop connectors from the turbo timer over the bolt and tightened it back down again.

Here's the wiring for my MkIV GTI:

On the turbo timer, the wiring is goes like this

red wire goes to 12v Constant

Green wire goes to ignition switched 12v

blue wire goes to Ignition accessory wire

black wire goes to ground

purple wire goes to the ground or hand brake.

If your wires are just like my MkIV, the black wire with a red stripe should be ignition accessory.

The solid black wire will be ignition switched 12v

The solid red wire will be constant 12v.

I grounded to a ground bolt in the steering column. I ran the purple wire all the way to the hand brake since I don't have an automatic.

With all the wires tapped, I stuck Luis' circuit box along with the turbo timer control box up under the dash. I used double-sided tape to make sure they don't move around. I zip tied all the wires to each other so they looked nice and neat... just in case Martha Stewart ever looks under my dash.

I reconnected the battery and started it right up. I probably should have tried it before packing all the wiring away and putting the dash back together. I didn't have to take anything apart again though, so I guess I done good.

Here's the final product. you can see how the black neoprene does a good job of filling the gap around the display.

Courtesy : Peterbeers